The National Assembly has adopted a resolution on sustainable poverty reduction until 2020, targeting the reduction of the ratio of the country's poor households to below 5% and that of poor districts to less than 30% by 2015. In the 2016-2020 period, the resolution set a target to avoid relapse. A diverse methodology was agreed, including an increase of investment in poverty reduction policies and programs, efficient distribution of investment, and promotion of linking socio-economic development between disadvantaged and developed areas. Further methodology was also put in place, including realization of preferential policies on land, tax, credit and market support for attracting enterprises, especially small- and medium-sized enterprises to invest in and boost business and production, to develop infrastructure and enhance vocational training and job creation for poor laborers, according to the Communist Party of Vietnam online newspaper. Moreover, the resolution stressed the need to increase commodity production in combination with developing the market for commodities in disadvantaged and ethnic minority-inhabited areas, while linking poverty reduction policies with socio-economic development, national defense and security maintenance. In the resolution, policies will be issued to enable the poor to gain easier access to support, while preferential credit loans will be increased for poor and nearly-poor people. Also planned is an adjustment in the amount of the loans, interest rates, and timeframes to suit agricultural, industrial, fisheries and forestry encouragement policies. The resolution applies priority to investment in infrastructure and development; an increase in the quality of human resources for ethnic minority people, poor districts, poor communes, border communes, coastal communes and extremely disadvantaged villages. It also handles granting residential and cultivated land to ethnic minority people, increasing vocational training, job creation and income for poor ethnic minority people who have not received cultivated land support. In terms of medical care, the resolution targets that at least 90% of nearly-poor households have access to social health insurance and 70% of local health care stations in communes will be upgraded to provide sufficient social healthcare insurance services. (vietnamplus.vn Jun 27)
